ANTI-RACISTS called for a national campaign to vote out Reform UK today after the far-right party’s MP Sarah Pochin was branded a disgrace for saying: “It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people.”

The Runcorn & Helsby MP apologised for any offence caused, saying her comments were “phrased poorly,” but campaigners rejected her “un-apology” over her vile remarks on TalkTV and condemned her party leader Nigel Farage for failing to rebuke her.

Stand Up To Racism co-convener Sabby Dhalu told the Morning Star: “Sarah Pochin’s racist remarks reveal the true character of Reform UK — racist to the core — and illustrate that it is not fit to be anywhere near power. 

“The campaign to mobilise the vote against them must begin now.”

Black Activists Rising Against Cuts UK national chair Zita Holbourne said: “It is clear Pochin has only apologised because of the public response calling out her racist comments.  

“Britain is a  multicultural, multi-ethnic country, so it is right for people featured in adverts to reflect its diverse population. 

“Black and Asian people have been present in the UK for centuries and made huge contributions to the UK through their labour, innovation, talent and skills, benefiting society and the economy.  

“Her un-apology doesn’t make her racist ideas and her original comments any better. Such comments fuel racism, and and it is not acceptable for politicians to express such racism.”

Responding to a viewer on TalkTV who had complained about the demographics of advertising, Ms Pochin said that the viewer was “absolutely right.” She said: “It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people.

“It doesn’t reflect our society and I feel that your average white person, average white family is … not represented any more,” she claimed.

After blaming the “woke liberati” in the “arty-farty world,” she later said in a statement that she was trying to say the advertising industry had gone “DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] mad.

“My comments were phrased poorly and I apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention.

“The point I was trying to make is that the British advertising agency world have gone DEI mad and many adverts are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole. I will endeavour to ensure my language is more accurate going forward.”

Today Health Secretary Wes Streeting branded her comments a disgrace. He told the BBC: “She’s only sorry that she’s been caught and called out, and she said the quiet bit loud.

“What we have seen on our streets in recent weeks and months is a return of 1970s, 1980s-style racism that I thought we had left in the history books.

“The only way we are going to defeat this racism is to call it out and confront it for what it is, and for the decent majority of this country to stand against it, as we have always done.

“I think what she said was a disgrace. I think it was racist — and the deafening silence from her party leader says it all.

“Reform is a party who think that our flag only belongs to some of us who look like me, not all of us who have built this country, built its success.”

Labour MP for Vauxhall & Camberwell Green Florence Eshalomi said: “We have to call out and stand up to the division and hate masked as ‘free speech’.”

But left Coventry South MP and “Your Party” co-founder Zarah Sultana said: “[It’s] hard to take Labour’s outrage at Sarah Pochin seriously when [Labour leader Keir] Starmer mimicked fascist Enoch Powell, calling us ‘an island of strangers’ and claiming migration caused ‘incalculable damage.’ Labour is Reform with a red rosette.”

Reform head of policy Zia Yusuf told Sky News that it was right that Ms Pochin had apologised but added that people must be able to “talk about” representation on TV advertising.

It comes after Labour’s humiliation in Caerphilly after coming a distant third in last week’s Senedd by-election. Anti-racists celebrated Plaid Cymru’s victory over Reform in what had been a safe Labour seat for more than 100 years.